Picker checkstrap



March 5, 1935. H. J. SHIVELL PI CKER CHECKSTRAP Filed Feb. 11, 1952INVENTOR HOME? J Jan 41.

BY HIS ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PICKER CHECKSTRAP Homer J.Shivell, Orchard Court, Kingsport, Tenn.

Application February 11,

'1 Claims.

This invention relates to looms of the type having a reciprocatingshuttle operated by a picker stick, and more particularly to a checkstrap for the picker stick.

In the ordinary loom construction, the movement of the picker stick ischecked in each direction by a strap, the ends of which are broughttogether and secured by a suitable clamp attached to the loom frame,other portions of the strap being held in position by suitable guides.The strap is thus given the general form of a relatively fiat ellipsesurrounding the picker stick. The picker stick, which is pivoted on theloom frame at some distance below the shuttle guide, swings back andforth within the elliptically formed check strap.

The inner end faces of the check strap which are engaged by the pickerstick are substantially vertical. The picker stick is located ininclined positions at the times that it engages the check strap, and thefaces of the picker stick which engage the said inner end faces of thecheck strap are located in correspondingly inclined positions at thetimes that they engage said end faces.- The result is that the checkingof the picker stick is done entirely by the upper portions of the saidend faces of the strap, at least when the, strap is new. This imposesundue strain on the upper part of the strap with the result that thesaid upper part is stretched and the strap is often broken through bythe force of the blows of the picker stick against the same at thepoints engaged by the stick.

The principal object of the present invention is to improve theconstruction and mode of operation of picker check straps of the abovetype and to produce a construction in which the disadvantages abovepointed out in thepresent construction are effectively obviated.

With the above objects in view, a feature of the present inventionconsists in a check strap curved or bent widthwise in a form such thatwhen flexed into endless form and secured in place in the machine, theend faces thereof which are engaged by the picker stick will be inclinedat angles substantially the same as the angles of the contact faces ofthe picker stick at the times when said faces engage the strap.

The invention will be clearly understood from the accompanying drawingillustrating the invention in its preferred form and the followingdetailed description of the constructions therein shown.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation l u trating 1932,Serial No. 592,268

certain parts of the picker mechanism of a. loom having a check strapembodying the invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the picker mechanism taken substantiallyon the line 22 of 5 Fi 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail view in elevation illustrating a check strapembodying the invention detached from the machine;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating a 10 check strap of aslightly different form; and

Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation illustrating a picker mechanism of am having a check strap of the usual construction applied thereto.

In the drawing the invention is shown applied 15 to the picker mechanismof a loom comprising a fixed shuttle guide indicated at 2, a shuttle 4mounted for reciprocating movement upon said shuttle guide, a pickerstick 6 pivoted at 8 to the loom frame for reciprocating movement, and a20 contact block 10 mounted on the picker stick for engagement with theshuttle.

Fig. 5 of the drawing illustrates a check strap of the construction atpresent in common'use, embodied in the picker mechanism. This check 25strap is indicated at 12 and consists of a strap, the ends of which arebrought together to form an endless band elliptical in form surroundingthe picker stick. The ends of the strap are secured together andattached to a bracket 14 30 mounted on the shuttle guide 2 by means of asuitable clamp. The strap is cut or otherwise formed so that it has nowidthwise bend or curvature but, when laid on a flat surface, issubstantially straight.

When a strap of this form is bent into an ellipse and secured inhorizontal position so as to surround the picker stick, the innercontact faces of the strap at the ends of the ellipse which are engagedby the picker stick are substantially ver- 40 tical as shown in Fig. 5.Because of the swinging movements of the picker stick, the faces of thestick which engage the strap are in positions inclined to the verticalat the times that they engage the strap, as shown in said figure. There- 45 suit is that the picker stick engages only the upper part of thestrap and a heavy strain is placed on this part thereof which tends tostretch the same. The said upper part is also subjected to very heavywear at the contact faces of the strap 50 which sometimes causes thepicker stick to break through the strap. To avoid this difflculty thecheck strap is so out or formed that when bent into an endless band andsecured in place in the 100.111, the contact faces thereof which are en-655 gaged by the picker stick will be inclined at substantially the sameangles as the angles of inclination of the contact faces of the pickerstick at the times that they engage the strap. This result may beaccomplished by forming the strip so that it has an angular formation,or is bent or curved in a. certain manner widthwise of the strap. In theconstruction shown the strap is curved widthwise on a circular arc.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the check strap for the picker stick is soformed that it is curved widthwise in an arc. The are of curvature ofthe strap is such that when the strap is bent into elliptical form asshown in Fig. 2 and secured in place on the loom frame, the end faces ofthe strap which are engaged by the picker stick will be inclined atsubstantially the same angles as the angles of inclination of thecontact faces of the picker stick 6 when the picker stick is at thelimits of its swinging movements, as shown in dot-and-dash lines inFigs. 1 and 5. The engagement of the picker stick with the check strapstops the movements of the picker stick in substantially the positionsshown. The radius of curvature of the strap may be varied to adapt thesame to the requirements of different looms. As shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3and 4 the strap is indicated at 16.

As shown in Fig. 3, the strap is providedat one end with a circularopening 18 and at the other with a slot 20 through which the clampingbolt of the clamping mechanism is passed in securing the ends of thestrap together and to the clamp. In the construction shown in Fig. 4 thestrap is provided with slots 22 and 24 through which the clamping boltfor the clamping mechanism may be passed. By providing a slot in one endof the strap, or slots in both ends thereof, the,

ends of the strap may be relatively adjusted lengthwise of the strap tovary the size of the endless band and thereby vary the positions of thestop or contact faces of the strap.

As shown in Fig. 3 the strap is curved widthwise from one end of thestrap to the other. As shown in Fig. 4 the end portions of the straphave substantially no widthwise curvature and the part of the strapbetween said end portions is curved. This construction has certainadvantages in securing the ends of the strap together, particularly in acase where the strap is relatively long.

The backward bend of the end in the form shown in Figure 4 gives adownward slope to the loop from the point of attachment at which theends are overlapped, and in this way the sides of the loop from thepoint of attachment to the point at which the picker stick strikes maybe substantially perpendicular to the picker stick in the angle at whichit is held by the loop.

With a construction such as that illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive,or that illustrated in Fig. 4 applied to the loom to check the movementsof the picker stick, the picker stick will engage the strap throughoutthe entire width of the strap from the top to the bottom of the contactface thereof. Thus the strain will be distributed from the top to thebottom of each contact face and neither the upper nor the lower portionsof the strap will be subjected to undue strain or wear. This will resultin greatly increasing the life of the strap.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to theparticular construction of the illustrated embodiment of the invention,but that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scopeof the claims;

Having explained the nature and object of'the invention, and havingdescribed a construction embodying the invention in its preferred form,what is claimed is:

1. A check or lug strap for automatic looms comprising a band formedfrom a blank curved relative to its length so that the ends of a loopformed by the band bend in a conical formation and said band havingmeans on the ends thereof to permit its attachment to a frame of theloom at the desired position in relation to a picker stick. v

2. A check or lug strap for automatic looms. comprising a leather bandformedfroma blank curved relative to its length so that the ends of aloop formed by the band bend 'in a conical formation, the band havingslots at the ends thereof to permit the overlapped ends of the band tobe bolted to the frame of the loom at the desired position in relationto a picker stick.

3. A check or lug strap for automatic looms comprising a band formedfrom a blank curved relative to its length so that the ends of a loopformed by the band bend in a conical formation adapted to be "attachedto a frame of the loom at the desired position in relation to a pickerstick.

4. A check strap for engaging picker sticks of looms comprising a loopformed with its upper edge to the other.

6. A check strap as defined in claim 5 in which each end is bent awayfrom the last direction line of the adjacent portion between the CD65,but on the opposite side thereof from the bending within saidintermediate portion, whereby when said ends are secured, onesuperimposed on another, to form a loop, the loop will slope downwardfrom the point of securing,

7. A check strap as defined in claim 5 which when flat is arcuate fromend to end.

HOMER, J. SHIVELL.

